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I was a one-book-at-a-time person for the longest time, and in the last two years relaxed what I realized was an arbitrary rule and allowed myself to read any o
by sixstringtheory 5y ago
I was a one-book-at-a-time person for the longest time, and in the last two years relaxed what I realized was an arbitrary rule and allowed myself to read any of a number of books (because I buy them faster than I can read them anyways) depending on my mood. I currently have at least one going in each of these areas:
- technical
- design
- autobiography
- classic fiction
- short nonfiction anthology
- history
Progress is a lot slower per book, but it’s not a race. I much prefer being able to pick up whatever I’m interested in at the time than having to wait, feeling like I have to slog through the end of the current book.
- thibran 5y agoBy the way, this is also a much better learning strategy. Switching topics means to recall the information before continuing, which is very much desirable.
- sixstringtheory 5y agoOne of the books I’m reading is Swann’s Way, which is basically stream-of-consciousness in structure, and there’s an appendix with a synopsis that references page numbers. I usually read the latest paragraph of that to bring me back up to speed before diving into the text. Super useful tool that I wish came with every book… I see things like Sparknotes in a whole new light now. But manual recall is definitely a good exercise!
- electrondood 5y agoI read promiscuously. I want the ideas from disparate topics to have sex and produce novel offspring in my mind.
- Breza 5y agoThat's such a good way of describing it!
- Breza 5y agoI have a similar approach. I'll read a math textbook and a novel. Helps keep me motivated to read more rather than thinking "Ugh, I need to read that textbook now."